Surviving St. Louis

For almost 6 weeks, husband has been in Utah. Without me. It just made sense to do the Big Move over Thanksgiving weekend, thus limiting the number of days either of us has to take off work. Have I mentioned yet that my job is letting me work remotely through the end of the year? I know - totally awesome. But it means that I have been stuck in St. Louis all by my lonesome (yes, I'm whining. Its well-earned whining though: 5+ weeks alone and PREGNANT!)

So while husband's been "living the dream" in Utah and seeing both of our families, I've been packing up the apartment. By myself. And please don't worry that I've been doing too much for my prego body - I've been smart. Promise.

Anyway - back to us being apart for OVER FIVE WEEKS - this is the longest we've been apart since we met. I know I know - it could be worse, and he could be in the military or it could be WWII and he would be gone for years and years with only a letter or 2 to keep me going. But I think there's a reason God didn't have me born during WWII because I would NOT have been able to handle it. I am not strong enough and I'm one of those pathetic wives that needs to have her husband around.

So yesterday the long-anticipated day was upon us. The day of husband's return!!! His flight to Denver went off without a hitch. About 20 minutes before leaving Denver, the big announcement about the Darren Wilson case was made. (If you've been living under a rock for the last 3 months, google "Ferguson, Missouri." Happy reading.) The plane took off and I figured no matter what happened in Ferguson, we would see each other in 2.6ish hours.

Let's back up to the Darren Wilson case. Things have been CRAZY here for the last 3 weeks with prepping for this big day. Rumors and speculating have been abundant. Every weekend I've been stocking up on the essentials because the announcement was supposed to happen any time. It kind of seemed to be overly hyped up.

So the announcement was made, and within an hour things were getting REALLY ugly. I watched on tv in horror as parts of our town were destroyed. I've never felt afraid like that before - it was scary. All I could think to do was pray for peace and safety for those who were trying to keep the peace. We're about 15 miles from the heart of Ferguson, but there was also a group of protestors in the city, only one mile away from us. Helicopters were flying overhead all night, but other than that our street stayed eerily quiet. And thankfully the city protestors were much more peaceful than the ones in Ferguson.

When it came time to leave to pick up Dan, I mustered up my courage and ran out to the car. (Yes, I got in trouble for leaving the house, so don't bother to yell at me any further. In my defense I needed a man, and getting Dan was the only way to have my man to protect me! And our street really was quiet.) But less than a mile away the protestors had shut down the freeway. Which meant the surface streets were busy with traffic. My drive took me really close to where the shutdown was happening, and it was kind of traumatizing to be see close to the action.

I arrived at the airport just in time to discover that Dan's flight had been CANCELLED. They were literally 10 minutes away from landing in St. Louis when the protesting got so bad that they closed the airport. (The airport is only a couple of miles from Ferguson.) So the plane turned around and went ALL THE WAY BACK TO DENVER. I was devastated. Dan was worried sick and had no way of knowing if I was safe. Needless to say it was a long night for both of us (but it thankfully remained quiet on my street).

And let me also add so that no one worries to much that I wasn't being smart . . . . I live in a duplex and have awesome neighbors that live in my same building and checked-in on me periodically. And my next door neighbors on both sides were also at my beckoned call. And the bishop called several times to make sure I was safe. So I was being taken care of just fine.

Dan spent the night in the airport and was on a flight again at 6:00 am. Thankfully the airport had reopened and we were reunited at last. I cried with relief the whole way home from the airport.

Sorry for this crazy long post without any pictures (head to the news if you want to see pics of all the destruction).

This year for Thanksgiving I have something new to be grateful for - feeling safe. I've taken it for granted my whole life. God bless St. Louis and the good people who live here.

It's Official

You know how on TV when the like-able main character is headed off to some big or important event, and inevitably something goes wrong on the way there? The flight gets cancelled, or there's a major storm, or the car breaks down, etc etc. Did you know those things happen in real life too? Cause they do. Dan was on his way to a big important interview when his tire blew on the freeway. Oh fudge!!! (name that movie)

Yes, he was wearing a suit and tie and proceeded to change the tire on the side of the freeway while cars whirred past at 70 mph. Miraculously he was only 10 minutes late to the interview. Apparently the blown tire didn't phase him at all, because he must have rocked the it-they gave him an offer the very next day!! Praise the Lord and Hallelujah!! It's a great job doing compliance work for a small HR company. We couldn't be more grateful or thrilled.

So what does that mean for our little family?

Yep, that's right. We are moving to Utah! It's been quite the crazy last couple of weeks, and everything just seems to be falling into place like clockwork (which is very NOT normal for us). I keep waiting for something to go wrong because it all seems too good to be true. Then Dan reminded me that his tire blew out on the freeway, and that's got to count for something, right? Right.

So we're packing our bags and will be in Utah by December. To say our families are excited would be an understatement. Get ready Utah - the Ditto's are coming!!

Oh - and just in case you were wondering, this is what baby Gus looked like at 21 weeks. Totally rockin my huge bump. :)

Paint Nite!

It's no secret that I have the artistic talent of a wombat. My stick figures are barely discernible as people, and asking me to draw anything beyond a sun (circle with lines) or a moon (circle) is like asking for the for my dad to like a new recipe. IMPOSSIBLE.

Lately I've seen advertisements for these painting sessions that guarantee a completed painting in a 2 hours. NO ARTISTIC ABILITY REQUIRED. I wanted to do it - partly to prove them wrong. There's no way they could get ME to paint something that I wouldn't throw away in disgust by the end of the night.

So I brought along a few friends, and I have to say - it was a BLAST! We were a little disappointed at first - the painting we signed up for online looked almost nothing like the one the instructor had on display for us to paint.

Here's his painting:

And here's me in action . . . FUN!!

My St Louie chickas and their paintings. All different, but so so fun. Grace's painting on the far right was the closest to what we actually signed up for.

I went in with pretty much NO expectations. I figured if I produced something good enough to hang in a bathroom, I would be happy. While of course mine is nothing that would sell in a paint gallery, it actually looks pretty good! And now I've got the artist bug and I want to go again!! (Sistahs . . . next May? We have to do it!!!) In the mean time, I think I'll start practicing drawing dogs and dinosaurs - I've gotta have SOMETHING manly to draw for little Gus when he comes out. (Gus is just the fetus name. Real name yet to come.)

More Hawaii (and a fun surprise!)

Two months after the fact, its time I finish up Hawaii. Enjoy the photo dump.

First - we had SO much fun announcing to our families in person about the arrival of the next Ditto baby!!!!! We are beyond grateful and feel so blessed.  It's been a LONG couple of years getting to this point, but we trust in God's timing and know this miracle comes from Him. At an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago, our little one was proud to show us that he is a man!! Bring on the blue, the cars, and the dinosaurs - we are stoked! He will make his arrival in February and so far we are both doing fine and healthy as can be.

That's a fortune cookie. This announcement made sense to the families . . . promise.

Back to Hawaii - Ditto boys love to jump off high things into water. The next few pics are of the boys jumping The Point. It's high. And I was grateful for the excuse of being pregnant so I didn't have to do it.

Hang Loose! Moments before jumping.

Matt and the famous Go-Pro

From the top looking down. Holy smokes.
And yes, the water really is that blue (actually, its bluer in real life)

The view from The Point. When I look at this picture I think,
"Why don't I live here?"

The "Lost" trees. Many a famous person was filmed here.

Remember the Hurricane that wasn't? We were there. Other than some wind and
an hour of rain, all we got were some giant waves. Husband and Jon are somewhere in there.

I didn't dare put a toe in that water - I would have
drowned in 4 seconds flat. If you look close you can see the surfer.

  

Go Kahuku High! Husband's alma mater (it kind of resembles a prison, so I guess
its kind of miraculous that he has so much school pride). Thanks to the hurricane that wasn't,
the football game was cancelled so we didn't get to experience a game. Total bummer.

At the Polynesian Cultural Center. That place is seriously amazing. I'm holding a little
fish that I made out of coconut tree leaves. And if I look like I'm in the middle of the first
trimester, its because I was.

At the Pali Lookout. I wanted to bring a book and sit there all day. So peaceful. And beautiful.

The next few pics are from our trip to Goat Island. It's a small island we could see from the backyard of the house we stayed in. When the tide is low, you can walk/swim to it on the reef. We chose the PERFECT (and most beautiful) morning to head out there, and we had the entire island to ourselves, which was super cool. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. And it was so fun to see husband in his element - Hawaii is definitely where this island boy belongs!

We took this just after arriving. The shore we walked from is behind us.

Husband LOVES animals and little critters. He caught this guy in about 5 seconds. Look at
his face - that is the face of pure joy.

Gross. And cool.

Gorgeous!

Proof that I was there.

Sea cucumbers. When you push them, they leak water. It was gross.

Our little point and shoot camera took this. It was seriously a photographers dream - the sun
was rising in the perfect place and all we did here was set the camera on a rock
and turn on the timer. Yes, we know we're cool.

Adios, Hawaii! Favorite quote from Husband as we were driving to the airport,
"Leaving Hawaii is akin to going through a bad breakup."
It's so true!

Hawaii Part 2 - Maunawili Falls Hike

Yay for gorgeous hikes. And family. And hangin' loose.

Jumping off waterfalls makes you feel young. And Josh wins for the coolest pose.

This is the prize for those brave enough to climb up above the main falls.
We had it all to ourselves and it was super lush.

When you're ready to stop laughing at my awesome sunburn line,
we'll take a closer look at some important details of this picture.

See That Girl and That Guy? He was taking glamour shot pictures of her.
Maybe if my body looked like hers I would do that too.
Ok, I wouldn't.
But it was hilarious and they were taking pictures for a good 30 minutes. They clearly really like themselves.

So naturally we decided to copy them.
HOT HUSBAND!!! :)

Happy 60th to the Pops!

We interrupt the Hawaii goodness to bring Happy Birthday wishes to the man from whom I inherited my nose & ears (two of my best features, if I may say so), as well as my stubborness (and hopefully a few of his good qualities as well): my Pops.

We're so blessed to learn from such an incredible man - I knew few people who have dealt with so much heartache, and he has come through with unwavering faith and determination to continue to find joy in life.

Happy SIXTIETH Birthday Pops! (You're so old!) Wish we were there to celebrate.

Hawaii or Bust

Thanks to the best inlaws ever, we went on a trip with husband's family to their mother land - Hawaii. (Husband grew up there, but the fam hasn't lived there for years now). It was pretty much the trip of a lifetime. Hawaii is amazing and beautiful and every married couple should find themselves in Hawaii at some point (without kids, right?) Seriously - its amazing.

The phrase "Hawaii or Bust" took on a whole new meaning for this trip. In order to go, I kind of almost lost my job (long story) but I was getting on that plane no matter what! (No worries - all ended well and I'm back at work. I THINK that's a good thing?)

Husband and I had to fly to Vegas where we met up with the rest of the family for the flight to Hawaii. Of course there was a delay in St Louie. When we finally landed in Vegas we had to claim our luggage, run outside to find a shuttle to take us to a different terminal, run up 3 flights of stairs, and then re-check luggage. Sorry if any of you happened to be in the Vegas airport and saw two sweaty fools SPRINTING through the Vegas airport with 100 pounds of luggage (did I mention it was approximately 500 degrees outside? Cause it was). Lets just say that we were within only a couple of minutes of missing the flight. Once we knew we made it, Husband's glasses fell off his face (we were sweaty, remember?) and he promptly (and accidentally) stepped on them. Poor husband. Hawaii or bust, right? Right.

It was worth it all.

Why don't I live in Hawaii? I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm so bad at taking the time to pull out the camera to take pictures, but we really tried to capture what we could. Here's a few (more to come later).

GOOD MORNING HAWAII! This was the backyard of the house we stayed at.
Um, yes please?
And this was the morning after the above airport incident, which is why we look
so incredibly awesome.

Some early morning Amberly lovin.

Hike #1. We were 10 minutes into it when these banana trees appeared.
Cool, right? The Husband thought us mainlanders
were crazy for thinking it was exciting.

Thanks to Rach for the hot sunglasses - aren't we cool?

The end of hike #1. Gorgeous. Remember how in Utah you just hike for
a long time, get to a good view, and then turn around? Swimming in a beautiful
waterfall at the end of the hike is SOOO much better. Amen.
And we had it all to ourselves. The day before this I got sunburned like a crispy piece of bacon
(seriously, the worst sunburn ever). The cool water felt incredible.

This is the splash husband made when he jumped off the waterfall.
He forgot to tell me he was jumping, so all you get is the splash. :)

Hawaii has it all! Oceans, beaches, and mountains! Pictures just
don't do it justice.

What's the point of a waterproof camera if you forget to take it
out snorkeling with you? Just trust that we saw some awesome fish. As in,
I don't need to watch Finding Nemo because we saw everything in real life
(minus the sharks of course)